Westminster middle school STEM students race C02 dragsters

Last week,Westminster Christian Academy middle school students launched the CO2 dragsters they constructed in STEM class, a course required for all middle school students that takes an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to science, technology, engineering and math. STEM teacher Dale Beachy says the students applied Newton’s second law of motion for this project as they designed the cars using a CAD program and then cut and shaped them out of balsa wood blanks.  

Science, technology, engineering, and math are all applied within each of the course’s four project-based units, in which students are assigned to construct a rocket, an under-water robot, and a cardboard chair (with no adhesives) – in addition to the CO2 dragster. The course also encourages key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, and problem solving.